Cameroon company search: RCCM commercial register (rccm.ohada.org)

TL;DR. Cameroon’s official commercial registry is the RCCM (Registre du Commerce et du Credit Mobilier). https://rccm.ohada.org did not respond when last checked. No official fee and no turnaround time is published, so fees in this guide read unknown rather than free; confirm at source. This guide names no replacement search address. The FATF “Black and grey” lists page and the Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring list of 13 February 2026 both load, and Cameroon is named on that monitoring list; confirm at source.

What is the official Cameroon business registry?

Cameroon’s commercial registry is the Registre du Commerce et du Credit Mobilier (RCCM), established under OHADA’s Uniform Act Relating to General Commercial Law. OHADA harmonizes business law across 16 West and Central African states; Cameroon ratified the OHADA treaty in 1994.

Operationally, RCCM filings are managed by the greffe (registry clerk) of the Tribunaux de Premiere Instance (courts of first instance) in each regional capital: Yaounde, Douala, Bafoussam, Garoua, Bertoua, Bamenda, Buea, Maroua, Ngaoundere, and Ebolowa. GUCE (Guichet Unique des Operations du Commerce Exterieur), accessible at guce.cm, serves as the digital one-stop-shop for trade and company-related formalities. GUCE is not an RCCM company search.

Online search access is described via the OHADA federated RCCM portal at rccm.ohada.org. That host did not respond when last checked, and this guide names no replacement address.

The RCCM covers commercial companies (SA, SARL, SNC, SCS), individual traders, economic interest groups (GIE), branches of foreign companies, and moveable security registrations. All commercial entities in Cameroon must register within 30 days of incorporation.

What can you search?

Nothing, at rccm.ohada.org: the host did not respond, so the corporate-name, RCCM-number and legal-form fields it offers could not be confirmed, and no turnaround time is published; confirm at source.

It has been reported that only public-company (SA) records are broadly available online, with private-company (SARL) files needing a court search; confirm at source.

No beneficial ownership fields could be confirmed; confirm at source.

How much does it cost?

No official fee is published, so the table above reads unknown rather than free; confirm at source. Tariffs quoted by third-party businesses are not registry prices, and no turnaround time is published. XAF is pegged to EUR at 655.96, which is a currency fact and not a fee.

Do you need a local account or ID?

Optional. Account and local-ID rules could not be confirmed, because the RCCM portal did not respond. An OHADA portal account has been reported as needing only an email address; confirm at source. Court-level document retrieval still typically requires a local legal representative.

Is the website in English?

Partial. English coverage could not be confirmed, because the RCCM portal did not respond. Cameroon is constitutionally bilingual (French and English), and the OHADA RCCM portal has been reported as primarily French; confirm at source.

What’s the turnaround time?

Unknown. rccm.ohada.org did not respond. Seven to fourteen business days has been reported for certified extracts; confirm at source.

Is there an API?

No. The OHADA RCCM portal offers no public API.

For the broader context on OHADA’s harmonization framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.

What you legally cannot do

OHADA registries prohibit bulk automated scraping of entity data. Commercial redistribution of RCCM records without court or OHADA authorization is restricted. Cameroon’s data protection framework (Law no. 2010/012 on cybersecurity and cybercriminality, supplemented by the 2010 Electronic Communications Law) governs use of personal data in registry filings. Director names and addresses found in RCCM records may not be used for unsolicited marketing.

Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers

• rccm.ohada.org did not respond when last checked. There is no replacement address.
• No official fees are published. Confirm any quoted extract price at source.
• Private company data gap. For SARL data, expect to engage a local Cameroonian legal representative who can conduct an in-person search at the relevant court registry.
• Court of registration matters. RCCM numbers encode the court of registration. Douala (economic capital) and Yaounde (political capital) handle the majority of registrations.
• OHADA legal form standards. Entity types follow OHADA-standardized definitions across all 16 member states.
• FATF grey list. The FATF “Black and grey” lists page and the Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring list of 13 February 2026 both load, and Cameroon is named on that monitoring list; confirm at source.
• CEMAC membership. Cameroon is a member of CEMAC and shares the XAF currency zone. AML/CFT coordination in the zone is handled by GABAC.

Alternatives if you cannot access the RCCM directly

• Aggregator search (indicative only): OpenCorporates has limited Cameroon RCCM coverage. Useful for name-check only.
• GUCE (guichetunique.cm): trade and company-related formalities one-stop-shop. It is not an RCCM company search.
• Local legal representative or court agent (huissier) at the court of registration.

Local data suppliers

• Creditinfo Cameroon. Part of the pan-African Creditinfo credit bureau network. Provides commercial credit reports covering payment behavior and risk scoring.

Use the RCCM for the official filing record where an official search exists. Use a credit bureau when you need payment behavior or risk scoring on top of the registry extract.

FAQ

Can a foreign company access the Cameroon registry directly?

Not through rccm.ohada.org, which did not respond when last checked. No fee and no turnaround time is published, and there is no replacement address; confirm at source.

What is the RCCM number in Cameroon?

The RCCM number encodes the court of registration, year, and a sequential entity number. Douala-registered entities carry “CM-DLA” as the court prefix; Yaounde entities carry “CM-YAO”. This identifier is the primary anchor for entity searches.

What entity types are registered with the RCCM in Cameroon?

The RCCM covers SA (Societe Anonyme), SARL (Societe a Responsabilite Limitee), SNC (Societe en Nom Collectif), SCS (Societe en Commandite Simple), GIE (Groupement d’Interet Economique), individual traders, and branches of foreign companies. All are governed by OHADA’s Uniform Act on Commercial Companies.

Does Cameroon have a beneficial ownership (UBO) registry?

No beneficial ownership search could be confirmed, because the portal did not respond. UBO data has been reported as held by regulatory authorities rather than published for public access; confirm at source.

How current is the data in the RCCM?

Not stated. rccm.ohada.org did not respond, so nothing there says how current the RCCM’s data is.

Is Cameroon on the FATF grey list?

Yes. The FATF “Black and grey” lists page and the Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring list of 13 February 2026 both load, and Cameroon is named on that monitoring list; confirm at source.

What’s the difference between the registry and tax/financial filings?

The RCCM covers commercial registration, company structure, and moveable security registrations. Tax filings and identifiers are held by the Direction Generale des Impots (DGI) under the Numero d’Identification Unique (NIU). These systems are separate. No working RCCM search could be reached for this guide.

Last verified: 2026-09-04. Sources: rccm.ohada.org, which did not respond when last checked. No official fees are published, and there is no replacement address. For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.